Being Social

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Your daughter, a minor, desires an abortion but the state in which she resides requires parental notification of such procedures. She decides to enter a neighboring state in an effort to skirt the laws requiring parental consent. To that end, she enlists the help of a friend, boyfriend, teacher or any other individual to aid her in avoiding parental notification by transporting her across state lines.

Would you, as a parent, have preferred to remain uninformed of the abortion? Of course not. All proper parents would want to know if their daughter was attempting to procure an abortion. Parents understood then, as now, that not only was their child's health-care a parents responsibility, but more importantly, parents knew that their greatest responsibility to their children was guidance, and it was that loss of guidance that was at the heart of this issue.

a bill that criminalizes the transportation of pregnant minors across state lines with the intention of the minor obtaining an abortion, with certain exceptions.

Both S-403 and HR-748 (one originating in the house and the other the senate version) attempted to secure parental rights. Brad Miller voted NO in each instance. Brad Miller showed with his votes that he does not respect parental rights and that he preferred minors have no parental guidance during what many would call one of the most difficult times of their life. It was not clear just what guidance was available for those minors outside counselors. Perhaps Brad Miller felt government sponsored counselors would have been preferable to parents, a sad place to position one's self as a representative.

Would John F. Kennedy or Franklin D. Roosevelt have voted with Brad Miller? Would You?